Warbound (Grimnoir Chronicles #3) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Warbound
Series: Grimnoir Chronicles #3
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 385
Words: 149K
Publish: 2013

Ahhh, a big ol’ grand finale that wraps everything up in climactic showdown, In Space, hahahahaa.

I had forgotten how this ended, so as the threats kept ramping up, I kept wondering how Correia was going to wrap everything up in this one book. I knew he was going to (because I’d read the book before, silly!) but I just had no idea of how I was going to get from A to Z.

He does it in such a way that this trilogy is more than adequately wrapped up but has just enough hanging threads that he has openings to write more in this universe should he choose. Sadly, for me, he has not chosen too so far. He has made claims that he might write another sequel trilogy, but given how he operates, I’m not holding my breath.

The reason I like this trilogy so much is because of the characters. The story is great, the almost-cosmic horror (there are “empty men” in this book, suits of former men being controlled by an alien symbiote now) is top notch, the action is wonderful and the fighting is wicked cool. But Jake Sullivan and Faye Veirra give this a heart and soul and as important (to me anyway), brains. They are both smart cookies and do not react like 21^st century idiots online. They think, they plan, they have contingencies and when things inevitably go wrong, they do no panic. They are scared, worried, lonely, afraid but they do not allow their emotions to control them. The older I get, the more I see of people in our world today, the more I appreciate people who keep emotions in their proper place. This book is just chockful of that :-D

Reading Hard Magic, Spellbound and now Warbound all within two weeks of each other has really made me appreciate how much of one overall story they are but at the same time each novel is it’s own story. This trilogy is not one big story chunked up into three books but three distinct stories within one overarching story.

Highly recommended if you already like Correia’s stuff and highly recommended if you want to check out his style of writing without committing to a 6book fantasy series (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior) or a 10+book urban fantasy series (Monster Hunter International).

★★★★★

From the Publisher

Gritty urban fantasy set in an alternate noir 1930s. A tough P.I. battles an interdimensional monster that wants to suck magic power out of the world. Sequel to Hard Magic and Spellbound.  Book Three in the Grimnoir Chronicles.Only a handful of people in the world know that mankind’s magic comes from a living creature, and it is a refugee from another universe. The Power showed up here in the 1850s because it was running from something. Now it is 1933, and the Power’s hiding place has been discovered by a killer.It is a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. Earth is next.Former private eye, Jake Sullivan, knows the score. The problem is hardly anyone believes him. The world’s most capable Active, Faye Vierra, could back him up, but she is hiding from the forces that think she is too dangerous to let live. So Jake has put together a ragtag crew of airship pirates and Grimnoir knights, and set out on a suicide mission to stop the predator before it is too late. 

• Warbound (2013 Review)

• All of My “Grimnoir” Reviews

Spellbound (Grimnoir Chronicles #2) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Spellbound
Series: Grimnoir Chronicles #2
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 402
Words: 150K
Publish: 2011

Another home run. This Grimnoir trilogy just hits all my good buttons and I’m as happy as a clam.

There’s threats from a government agency, there’s threats from the Imperium (japanese), there are threats from other Actives (what magical users are called in this trilogy) and finally, you have threats on a cosmic scale.

Correia does a good job of balancing all of the threats, while expanding the cast of characters. We also get a good twist with one of the Imperial Iron Men (the ultimate bad guys in the previous book) helping out the Grimnoir because he knows the cosmic threat is real and only the Grimnoir are taking it seriously.

When I read this back in ‘13 I had an extremely visceral reaction to the first reveal of the major villain of the book, code named Crow. It was so intense that I had to put the book down back then for an entire day. I was extremely interested in how I would react this time. Oh man. I reacted the exact same way. Even down to putting the book down for 24hrs. I knew what was coming, but even so, it hit me like a runaway freight train. It’s good to know that some things about me haven’t changed.

The book ends in such a way that I kind of wondered if Correia had modeled it after The Empire Strikes Back, the second movie in the Star Wars trilogy. The good guys strike a dramatic blow but in the end are still scattered and on their own. That didn’t stand out to me last time and even now, I wonder if I’m reaching, but boy, it really had that feeling. In all fairness, it might also just be Correia using that kind of trope and not necessarily aping ESB directly. But he’s a couple of years older than me and could have seen ESB in the theatres and it would have struck him deeper than it did me. Who knows. It’s vague and baseless speculations like this that make re-reading so much fun :-D

The final battle was awesome. The Grimnoir, the cops, the airforce, all fighting against a demon god of a previously devoured world. And it all comes down to little ol’ Faye to stop it. Jake Sullivan the smart heavy can’t do it. Toru the renegade Iron Man can’t do it. Not even a full squadron of the American Airforce/Navy can do it. But Faye does it and she does it smart. That’s what I like about these books so much, the characters might make mistakes, but they aren’t obvious author created mistakes just to create hardship or drama. Or because the author is a stupid twit who can’t write themselves out of a brown paper bag. So go Correia, keep those smart characters coming!

★★★★★

From the Publisher

The Grimnoir Society’s mission is to protect people with magic, and they’ve done so—successfully and in secret—since the mysterious arrival of the Power in the 1850s, but when a magical assassin makes an attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt, the crime is pinned on the Grimnoir. The knights must become fugitives while they attempt to discover who framed them.

Thing go from bad to worse when Jake Sullivan, former p.i. and knight of the Grimnoir, receives a telephone call from a dead man—a man he helped kill.. Turns out the Power jumped universes because it was fleeing from a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. That predator has just landed on Earth.

• Spellbound (2013 Review)

• All of My “Grimnoir” Reviews

Hard Magic (Grimnoir Chronicles #1) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Hard Magic
Series: Grimnoir Chronicles #1
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 379
Words: 145K
Publish: 2011

Ahhhh, a re-read that lives up to my memories of it.

I read this while still (originally) on Devilreads (where I used my real name and picture, ohhhh the naivete of a misspent social youth!) and a friend there had recommended it to me. His account is still on Devilreads, but he did make the jump to Booklikes and then he’s sputtered out all over the place, so I don’t know if he’s even online any more. That’s how online friendships (come and) go I guess. I loved this book back then, even more so than Correia’s Monster Hunter International series but once I finished the trilogy in 2013, I hesitated for 13 years before taking this plunge and re-reading it.

But I have re-read this and it is just as good if not better than when I read it back in ‘13. Correia gets the vibe just correct for an Alternate History Urban Fantasy. Normally, I’d hate that subslice of genre bastardization, but Correia makes me like it, a lot.

The story is literally punchy, as Jake Sullivan, one of two main characters, is a “heavy”, someone who can manipulate gravity around himself. But he’s smart and he’s figuring stuff out about how to use his powers that no one else has even thought of. I LIKE that in a main character. Don’t make him stupid because you’re a stupid writer. Correia has never gone down that path and I respect him for that. The other main character is Faye, a teen girl who can teleport. She seems to have unlimited power though and it hints at the greater conflict that is coming, a conflict of cosmic horror’esque proportions. I had not read any cosmic horror before this back then, nor did I even know what it was. Given how I’ve gravitated to that genre over the years, I can understand why I was so attracted to this series without quite knowing why. Correia does cosmic horror in his MHI series too, but it’s not quite as in your face as here. But it isn’t the grim, hopeless, void of despair that Cthulhu type cosmic horror is supposed to be, but a more hopeful, humanity can survive if we just try hard enough (think of the optimism from the original Star Trek show). I like that threat of reality being destroyed but it is skillfully balanced by the hope, which I also like.

In my usual reading rotation, I have 6-8 weeks before cycling back to a series. That gives me time to sample a wide variety of other styles so that one series or author doesn’t overwhelm and I get burnt out on them. I’m going to be making an exception for this trilogy. I’ll be reading and reviewing the rest of the trilogy over the next two weeks. Each Friday  I’ll be putting up the next review. Spellbound will go up May 1st and Warbound will go up May 8th. That is very high praise in my estimation.

Also, Wikipedia has NO individual pages for ANY of Correia’s books so there is no indepth synopsis. With how popular Correia is with his fanbase, I cannot fathom why this is the case. I have my suspicions, but no concrete proof, nor do I care enough to try to do one of the books myself just to see it deleted by the damn commies who run wikipedia. There, that rant is out of my system so it shouldn’t show up again in the reviews for the next two books :-D

★★★★★

From Fandom.com

The year is 1930. Opening the story is a chance meeting by a Portuguese cow farmer Active Joe Vierra and a traveling family with a teenage Active named Sally Faye. The farmer realizes she has the same Power as him (Travel) and adopts her. A covert meeting from wealthy blimp business mogul Cornelius Stuyvesant with the Pale Horse, Jonathan Harkness, begins a plot to murder another man through the Power of Plague. As payment for his work, the Pale Horse requests a future favor from Stuyvesant who reluctantly agrees.

Three years later, Jake Sullivan, a former soldier and now ex-convict Active with the Power to manipulate gravity (colloquially called a 'Heavy') is serving off the last of his sentence under the federal government to bring in criminal Actives. Sullivan is a slow-talking, brutish looking man, but is ferociously intelligent and a master at using his seemingly simple Power in clever and creative ways after years of intense practice while in prison at Rockfell. His last job with the feds is to bring in an old friend (and flame) from his criminal days: Delilah Jones, an Active with the 'Brute' ability to imbue her muscles with extraordinary strength. On the run for mass murder, Delilah gives the Feds trouble and is almost captured by Jake when a group of vigilantes appear and assist Delilah's escape on a blimp. Sullivan is left with more questions than the government will answer, and so goes to begin an investigation into Delilah and the group who involved themselves to whisk her away.

The young Sally Faye has grown into her power, able to Travel with ease and beginning to ask Joe questions about the limits of the power and possible ways of using it. Their lives are interrupted when a group of men arrive at the farm looking for something Joe had been tasked to guard years prior. Refusing to give up the item, a firefight erupts. Joe is able to evade the enemy for just long enough to give the device to Sally before being killed by a big man with a terribly scarred face and a white eye called 'Mr Madi'. Telling Sally to flee, Joe gives her instructions to find the Grimnoir.

Turning up a few leads from an old mafia acquaintance unfortunately puts Jake on the radar for the Red Imperium: a foreign Japanese shadow organization that seeks to obtain world dominance. The Red Imperium sends members of the elite Iron Guard to kill Sullivan, but are stopped by the very same party that assisted Delilah: The Grimnoir. Another secret organization, their purpose is to uphold justice and protect the world with their Grimnoir Knights.

Dark forces are at work to gather components of a deadly Tesla device, and it becomes a race to recover the missing pieces before the enemy can put the device back together.

• Hard Magic (2012 Review)

• All of My “Grimnoir” Reviews

Book Haul of Misery III - The Final Miseration!

(Please read Misery Part I and Misery Part II for the full miserable experience)

Well, good morning Pilgrim. I figure you’re not really a Stranger any more if you’ve come back for the final edition of my Most Miserable Book Haul of All Time Ever, all thanks to Vault Books. (do I know how to give credit where credit is due or what?)

In February of 2023, I received the second special edition book of the Grimnoir Chronicles. It had been 5 years since I had received the first special edition book. Everything was clicking, right? We expected to have the third and final book in our hands within 6 months, because now that all the obstacles were overcome, we were sure the guy at Vault Books (Steve Diamond. Again, nothing positive is being said here) wanted this project over with just as much as we did. 4 months later Lord Larry claimed book 3 was almost ready to go. We were hopeful and thought Christmas of 2023 at the latest. Then crickets. Again. In October there was a random comment from the Vault Guy on Lord Larry’s site saying the book was going to the printer. Then crickets. Again. January of 2024 passed and still nothing. Not until April of 2024 did we get another snippet of info, from Lord Larry (who we were sick of hounding for *(&^%$ updates) and that was to say there were “issues” with the cover. Another 4 fething months of waiting.

And then, I finally got the final book, Warbound. Here are the beautiful pictures.

Opened September 5, 2024

7 1/2 years later, I FINALLY get the third book. Never again.

Beautiful Cover

Gold Stamping really stands out

Lucky Number 98!

I will not say this has been worth the wait. This has been the MOST MISERABLE EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD FOR BUYING OR BACKING A BOOK PROJECT. While I will continue to buy Larry’s book (I just love his stories) I will never again back a project he suggests. I will certainly never buy a book by Steve Diamond (who is an author).

That being said, these are beautiful books and I will enjoy looking at them. They also have new introductions so when I go to re-read these, I plan on reading these editions and not my old ebook versions.

So Pilgrim, do you feel ready to move on now? That’s really good to hear. Mainly because you’re a ghost and I’m sick and tired of getting the chills every time you come to haunt me thinking you’re a real live blogger. Shoo, ghost, shoo!

Book Haul of Misery II

(Please read Book Haul of Misery I if you haven’t already, to get the background on my journey to hell and back.)

Well Stranger, you decided to come back, did you? I’m not sure if that qualifies you as very brave, or very foolish. Maybe you’re a mix of both and Fate brought you to my camp fire so as I could beat the foolish right out of you with this here bag of fritos chips. But either way, let me continue my tale fraught with woe and misery.

---

Opened August 29th, 2024

After having received the first book, Hard Magic in 2019, hopes were running high that the following two books would quickly arrive too. Unfortunately, as we all know, covid hit in 2020. Coupled with a paper shortage, things were delayed. If you read the comments section at Vault Books, you can chart our dissatisfaction as the months and then years rolled by.

FOUR YEARS LATER…..

Children were born and grew up into toddlers. Old people died. Matrix Resurrections was released and promptly forgotten. Dune, Part I was released and gave hope to millions of Dune fans around the world. I discovered the talented Angelina Ross. I was no longer a callow youth in my 30’s. The world as we knew it in 2019 no longer existed.

Now remember Stranger, during these four long, arduous years, there were no updates of any kind from Vault Books. Every tiny bit of info that was gleaned was pulled, like a rotten tooth, from the unwilling mouth of Lord Larry himself. I now know what a nagging wife feels like. It is a horrible feeling and it was a horrible experience.

And then, a miracle occurred.

Hallelujah and Amen! Spellbound was in the house in February 2023!

Spellbound dustcover

Spellbound actual cover

#98 – Because I’m just that special

Covid was over. Alternate printers, the original printers had gone out of business (supposedly), were found. Trees were chopped down like grass and paper was no longer in short supply. We all expected that in 6 more months, we would have the final book in our hands. The End was in sight.

Or. So. We. Thought.

Wut?! That pesky work calling you again Stranger? You should quit that boring job and become a land surveyor like me. Fresh air. Sharp machetes. No busybody managers micromanaging your every move. You don’t like the cold and the heat you say? You pansy. Get out of here. But be sure to come back next week when I’ll make you cry buckets with the final tale of woe of this most Miserable Journey Ever. I do suggest you bring your own fire though, I don’t share with pansies…

Book Haul of Misery I

I just opened this last night. It has sat unopened on my bookshelf for the last 5 years. Misery.

Four score and ten months ago, I began a Journey of Misery the likes of which I hope never to repeat. Sit down, be welcomed Stranger, to my cozy camp fire and I will relate the first part (of three) of my Journey of Misery.

Eons ago, in the vast misty days of yore, Lord Larry did announce that Vault Books would be releasing his Grimnoir Trilogy in a special leatherbound edition. This was broadcast throughout the land in the middle of 2017, The initial announcement by Vault Books did proclaim that this trilogy would be released on a set schedule with the first book, Hard Magic, to be released in the summer of 2017. At some point that was retconned with no notice to read “Hard Magic will be released in 2018”.

For unknown reasons, and with no updates, the first book was not released until mid 2019, two YEARS after it was supposed to be. And even that was because I, along with others, went and bugged Correia on his website, on twitter and on facebook. All we all really wanted were some updates and reasons for the delay and we got bupkiss.

2 Years Late

With this being two years late, or even just one year if you’re going by the retcon data at Vault Books, I was expecting to get all three of my books (I had ordered the numbered bundle, and I was the Incredible #98) at once. Oh, I was so naive. I received Hard Magic, and Hard Magic alone.

By this point I didn’t know if I would ever get the next two books, so I did not open the package. Like the picture at the top states, I waited 5 years to open this. And last night was the night. I will be showcasing what I paid for all those years ago.

Dust cover. Very nice looking.

The Actual Cover.

The Inside Page.

Besides my eyes, this is one more reason why I buy ebooks now. They are either available or they are not. There is no delay and no stony silence about where your money went.

Thankyou Stranger, for sitting down with me and listening to my opening ramble, I sure do appreciate it. What’s that? You have to leave for work now? Sure, I understand. But I’ll be here next Friday too, with part two of this tale of woe and misery, if you think you can bear it.